Utah Sues to Challenge Federal Control of Unappropriated Public Lands

The lawsuit focuses on land the U.S. government is ’simply holding, without formally reserving it for any designated purpose,' the complaint says.

A bison grazes on federal public land on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, about 50 miles north of Salt Lake City, in a file photo. Rick Bowmer/AP Photo

The state of Utah filed a federal lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 20 seeking to challenge the federal Bureau of Land Management’s control over millions of acres of unappropriated public lands.

In its suit, the GOP-led state asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the U.S. government can indefinitely hold public lands that have not been reserved for any designated purpose.